Tension flares during funding discussion

SANDPOINT — Bonner County Clerk Marie Scott dropped an F-bomb and abruptly walked out of a meeting Tuesday as commissioners grappled with a staggering $2.5 million cost overrun in renovating the century-old courthouse.

Scott apparently muttered the expletive at Commissioner Mike Nielsen as he called for better cooperation from Scott’s office on financial matters.

Nielsen said he was “fed up” with trying to make decisions without a fuller picture of the county’s finances.

“That’s why I would like to have more frequent, better interaction with the clerk’s office to have those figures,” said Nielsen.

Scott responded: “Oh, (expletive deleted) you” and left the meeting amid an awkward silence.

Scott seemed to be making the remark under her breath, but it was just loud enough to be picked up by microphones used to record the board’s business meetings.

Nielsen has accused Scott and Treasurer Cheryl Piehl of failing to cooperate with the board by declining to attend meetings. Scott and Piehl have steadfastly disputed the allegation.

Scott initially declined to participate in a discussion Tuesday about how to deal with the cost overrun, but Commissioner Cornel Rasor apparently persuaded her to take part.

At issue were a series of resolutions to transfer nearly $900,000 from various funds into the courthouse renovation fund.

The resolutions were ultimately adopted. The board also plans to ask a district judge for confirmation of additional funding options to cover the renovation shortfall.

The board contends it has the authority to do the inter-fund transfers because the shortfall was not reasonably foreseeable when the county developed its budget.

Unforeseen expenditures included asbestos abatement, the building’s lack of a superstructure and insufficient load-bearing beams.

“Those were things we couldn’t know until we got into the building and tore it apart,” said Nielsen.

The county budgeted $828,300 for the renovation, but encountered $4.9 million in change orders, bringing the current cost to $5.8 million. The cost of building a new courthouse was projected at $8.6 million.

But Commissioner Lewis Rich contends the projected cost of a new building was too high and said some in the commercial construction trade recommended pushing the building into a hole and starting over.

“They said we could have built it for six (million dollars),” Rich added.

Commissioner Cornel Rasor, however, remains convinced that the county is saving money by renovating the courthouse instead of replacing it.

“The building will still be $3 million less than a new building,” he said.